Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Pacific dogwood produces pumpkin-like buds, usually about one-half inch in diameter, which contain a future flower.

Salvage project offers volunteer, learning opportunity

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Saturday, January 26, 2002

OLYMPIA -- If you've always wanted to learn more about native plants and salvage projects, it's time you heard about the Native Plant Salvage Project.

Because many plants are dormant in winter, organizers and volunteers with the organization use the season to rescue nature in the way of new development or highway expansion projects.

Already, volunteers and project leaders have worked at sites such as Providence St. Peter Hospital, where arrangements for a stormwater pond and a parking garage have made some plants available for salvage.

Project workers first acquire written permission and often maps of the areas they are salvaging.

Many developers and highway departments allow salvage projects if the salvager makes prior arrangements.

"We've worked throughout Thurston County," Native Plant Salvage Project coordinator Erica Guttman said. "Mostly we work on new house construction" sites.

After removing only what they need, workers care for the plants until they can be offered to community groups interested in earth-friendly landscaping.

Created in 1994 to help Thurston County residents participate in the protection of water and wildlife through the use of native plants, the salvage project is best known for such "action projects," which run from December to March.

Joslyn Trivett of Olympia said volunteering with the project helped her refine her transplanting skills.

Trivett -- through independent salvage efforts made possible by help from Guttman -- has transplanted numerous varieties into her own yard.

"Even the best nursery stock, I don't think, is as healthy as the stuff that's salvaged -- and I'm a nursery manager," said Trivett, who works at Sound Native Plants, a wholesale seller of native plants in Olympia. "They haven't had the perfect conditions of a nursery to keep them going."

While not every transplanted beauty survives, the ones that do will be more likely to live, Trivett said, especially if you hone your skills volunteering for the salvage project.

Stacy Borden of Olympia said he's had success transplanting larger plants as well.

This year he'll take a 3-foot-tall fern he found at a salvage site into its second season.

"It's a good way to get long-established plants for your own yard," Borden said. "I've gained quite a nice mass to have in my landscape."

While the benefits of salvaging are great, there are important rules and ethics to follow. Take this advice if you'd like to start salvaging during this prime season:

- Before collecting on public lands, obtain written permission and a map and collect only from areas that will actually be destroyed.

- Get permission from the owner before entering property for any reason -- even to scope out the plants.

- Local city and county planning departments are the best sources for information on future development sites. Most keep public records of who has applied for building and other permits. You also may use The Olympian's "Development Locator," now published on the first Sunday of every month.

- If the landowner is willing to let you salvage, find out exactly where bulldozing is planned, so you can limit your efforts to those plants actually slated for destruction and not plants that will be part of future green space.

- Do not collect from wetlands or other environmentally sensitive areas.

- If a plant or group of plants looks unhealthy, do not collect from it. The extra stress may be hard on the plant, and you may transport a disease to your site.

- Do not collect plants, seeds or cuttings of rare plants and endangered species.

- Avoid frequent visits to the same site, and take only what you need.

- Salvage at sites similar to your planting site.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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